This male circumcision procession involved spear-bearing warriors and musicians with drums leaving from typical West African houses. In the section where this image appeared, Astley was describing Mandingo peoples referenced from the Upper Guinea Coast. He explained how "all the Mohammedan Negroes strictly practice circumcision, a ceremony performed around age of 14 or 15" (p. 298-299). Thomas Astley (d. 1759) was a British bookseller and publisher who never went to Africa. His imagined localities and illustrations of Africa were informed by a library of travel books at his disposal.
Circumcision of the Negros
SI-OB-811
1745-1747
Circumcision of the Negros
"Plate XLV" in Thomas Astley (ed.), A New General Collection of Voyages and Travels, vol. 2 (London: Thomas Astley 1745-1747), facing p. 298.
English
Pre-Colonial Africa: Society, Polity, Culture
Africa--Rivers
Jean Baptiste Labat, Nouvelle Relation de l'Afrique Occidentale, vol. 2 (Paris: Chez G. Cavelier, 1728), facing p. 280.
Jerome Handler; Michael Tuite; Henry B. Lovejoy Graduate Research Assistants: Tiffany Beebe; Travis May
1-Feb-17; 21-Aug-19
Astley006